The Village of Farnham

North Yorkshire

INTRODUCTION The villages of England are among the great treasures of the land and interest in them has, perhaps, never been stronger. Many of the villages have a similar history - early Saxon settlements - a Norman church - Tudor additions - Georgian houses - Victorian Houses and church refurbishment - some modern houses before and after the 1939-45 war. In the best cases this has resulted in a pleasing blend of styles, whilst generally displaying the vernacular styles and materials. Farnham is such a village and we who live there are keen to preserve it and to understand and enjoy its history. In 1990 we formed an Historical Study Group and we have made considerable progress in our studies, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. We had a good starting point because one of the previous vicars of the parish, the Rev. Waterer, had done a great deal of research and produced, in 1956, a typewritten manuscript which is deposited in the Harrogate library. Our efforts have been directed to understanding the people and their lives. We have been helped in this by the church records, which are virtually complete back to 1555. In 1996 we published some of our findings, partly to help residents and visitors enjoy the village more and partly to record the facts before they slip away back into the shadows. This book was arranged in fourteen chapters and illustrated with some twenty-seven maps and sketches. The style of the book is to present the history of Farnham by way of a walk through the village. For the sake of these web pages we have re-organised and edited the content into a series of ten subjects. All historical records are full of gaps and uncertainties and there is still a great deal we do not know about Farnham but even with that reservation we hope our account will shed some light and give some pleasure.